The present invention relates to a mouthpiece for use with a single reed musical instrument. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mouthpiece for a musical instrument having improved tone qualities and improved performance response.
The mouthpieces for single reed woodwind instruments are devices upon which a vibrating reed is normally mounted to the mouthpiece surface. In this manner, the tapered, thin end of the reed, which is quite flexible, functions as a reed valve. The reed opens and closes an opening in the mounting surface of the mouthpiece and therefore oscillates cooperatively with the vibrating air column of the instrument. The opening in the mouthpiece is normally referred to as a window.
One mouthpiece according to the prior art is disclosed in Rovner, U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,425. This mouthpiece is said to have improved tonal qualities. The mouthpiece shown in the Rovner patent thus includes a flat side front portion having a window 16 and a table 30 surrounding the window. The reed 40 thus extends over the window and part of the table and is held thereon with the ligature 20. The overall table used in Rovner is thus extremely small in proportion to the reed itself. While this mouthpiece has achieved significant success, it tends to favor an extremely bright and unstable sound, and diminishes the user's ability to produce dark tones when desired. Furthermore, in this case about 85% of the underside of the reed itself is exposed to the chamber 19 of the mouthpiece. This results in a mouthpiece that destabilizes the reed, and is thus difficult to control and more fatiguing for the player. Furthermore, the tone chamber 19 in this case is approximately the same length as the window 21 and is preferably rectangular or square in cross-section throughout its length. The configuration of this chamber introduces unpleasant partials to the tone not normally associated with traditional sounds.
Another mouthpiece is shown in Guardala et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,805. This mouthpiece, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 thereof, includes a triangularly shaped recess 53 immediately overlying the vibrating reed, and in which the vibrating column of air striking these inner surfaces is said to result in the generation of fuller harmonic overtones.
Other conventional mouthpieces for musical instruments are shown in Chance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,525,523, and Bower, U.S. Pat. No. 1,583,382.
The search has continued, however, for an improved mouthpiece for single reed musical instruments which have improved tonal qualities and improved performance responses.